


make it right (the too short a time remix)

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Category: Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: M/M, Multiverse, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Civil War (Marvel), Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29741349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Steve traces his fingers over the monument. It's a startling likeness, and something in him yearns for the one back home. Tony's. The last piece of him Steve has. Not this one of—"Steve?"After Tony gives up everything to save the universe, Steve tries to make things right. It doesn't go the way he expected it to, but he does what he can to fix things.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65
Collections: 2021 Captain America/Iron Man Remix Relay





	make it right (the too short a time remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Encounter (A Stitch in Time Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29435115) by [Neverever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever). 



Steve isn't sure what he'd expected when he'd asked the Stones to make everything right, but it sure isn't this. His dead friend at his back, this weight on his shoulders, the heaviness of the memorial.

Steve traces his fingers over the monument. It's a startling likeness, and something in him yearns for the one back home. Tony's. The last piece of him Steve has. Not this one of—

"Steve?"

Steve turns to Tony, who's staring back at him with wide, searching blue eyes. They're piercing in a way that Steve isn't used to, as though they've seen too much and the person they belong to is only held together by sheer force of will. These aren't _his_ Tony's eyes, but, then, it's not like he's ever going to see his Tony again.

Steve swallows and makes his way to Tony's side. "Explain it to me again."

Tony does. It's a brutal story, death and loss, betrayal and pain, and it puts the fight he and his Tony had fought in Siberia to shame. He'd thought that was the worst their friendship could get, but this sounds like it was so much more, the way it poisoned the years of collaboration, coupled with the connection, compromise, and _companionship_ that those years alluded to. This Tony was a man broken down to his bones and reformed through hope alone. Vain hope, but hope nonetheless.

When he finishes, he looks up at Steve. "You're not him, though. Not brainwashed or Skrull or— you're not him."

Steve shakes his head. "No. Parallel universe, I think."

"Reed had hypothesized about that," Tony says. He hums, as though trying to find a nugget of information in that big brain of his. It's the same sort of sound _his_ Tony would have made, and the knowledge hurts more than Steve can say. He makes a wounded sound, and Tony turns to look at him. "And your Tony?"

"Dead." Tony doesn't startle at the tone in Steve's voice, simply blinks and raises an eyebrow. "Thanos," he says. "There was a, uh. There was a fight."

"I'd assumed as much."

Steve nods, but his throat is too tight to say much more. Still, Tony keeps Steve caught in his patient gaze and waits him out. "Thanos had a Gauntlet."

"The Infinity Gauntlet," Tony says with a nod. "You used it, I assume."

Steve stops short, thrown for a loop. "What? Me? No, Tony, it— you used it. Or, _he_ used it. Of course it was you. You were the only one—"

But Tony holds up a hand to cut him off. "I'm going to stop you right there, Cap." Steve's jaw snaps shut. "You can and have wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in this universe, and in much more dire circumstances. Don't go selling yourself short."

The words send Steve reeling. He'd assumed— "But I thought you said your Cap was shot."

"He was."

"But the Gauntlet…. It didn't kill him?" Steve asks when Tony just stares at him blankly.

Tony startles, and he stares back at Steve with a horrified expression. "Kill him? No, of course not. Why would you—" Tony's eyes widen with understanding. "You— _he_ —"

"It was the only way. Strange said— he'd told Tony that we only had one shot at this. That this was our only option."

Tony stares back at him, face pale. "That's not…. That's not how the Gauntlet works."

"That's how it works in my universe."

Tony stares at him for a moment longer before his face schools itself into something certain. "Okay. Then let's get to work."

"What?"

"You've got the Gems, don't you?" Steve blinks; he hadn't thought he'd been that obvious. Tony taps his temple. "Extremis. It picked up the energy signature as soon as you landed. How do you think I found you so fast?

One word jars Steve back into the reality that this isn't his reality. "Extremis?"

"You have that in your universe?"

Steve frowns. "I think so. But I didn't think— it must not mean the same thing here."

Tony nods. "Alright. Well, as long as you've got the Gems, I can make you a damn good approximation of our Gauntlet. Should be enough to let you get what you need, provided that the Gems' frequencies aren't too far off of ours."

This is so like his Tony, so like the kind of warmth and kindness and support that Steve had been accustomed to over the few years he'd had him. Still. he has to ask. "Why?"

Tony's face hardens. "I couldn't save my Steve. Let's see if I can save your Tony."

And really, what can Steve say to argue with that?

It takes the better part of a month for Tony to get a working mock-up of the Infinity Gauntlet based on the Stones' frequency. He's fully transparent about the fact that he doesn't know exactly what the outcome will be — whether Steve himself will survive, given the difference in the frequencies — but Steve doesn't care. If this is his one shot at getting Tony back, he's not going to waste it. In the meantime, Steve does what he can to keep the streets of New York safe, hidden under the guise of a SHIELD agent thanks to Tony's position there. It had been Tony's idea, in fact, when Steve couldn't sit still for the first two weeks.

If they continue to indulge in his other idea to keep Steve still in Tony's bed late at night, that's no one's business but their own.

Now, though, with the Gauntlet assembled and ready to be used, Steve feels immobilized. He's not afraid to give everything up to bring his Tony back. He is afraid of getting this wrong and destroying both universes.

Still. He has to try.

"You sure about this?" Steve asks Tony. He's stalling, and they both know it.

Tony smiles and takes Steve's hands in his. "No. But I know you well enough to know that you're going to do it anyway."

Steve stares into Tony's blue, blue eyes, and wonders what it will be like to see _his_ Tony's eyes again. He laughs. "I guess you do know him pretty well. You think we're that similar?"

Tony smiles and hands over the Gauntlet. "Do your worst, Rogers."

Steve closes his eyes, picturing the two points in the multiverse he needs to change. He lingers in his hope before, with a single, deep breath, he snaps his fingers.

A bright light fills the room with the portal that has just opened before them. Tony's grinning up at Steve, but Steve only sees this from the corner of his eye. He has his eyes fixed on the swirling energy vortex until his mirror image steps through, looking for all the world like he's seen a ghost.

Steve turns immediately to Tony, who's staring at his Captain America, dead for months, and now brought back to him. Steve looks at Tony's stunned face, and the hope in his chest turns briefly to terror, before Tony turns to look at him.

"You have no idea what you just did."

Steve relaxes. He's never been able to deal with an angry Tony, but a scared one? This he knows.

"I gave you another chance," Steve says. He allows himself one final kiss to this Tony's temple, lingers in the way Tony leans into the kiss. "Just like you gave me."

"It's not the same with us."

"Isn't it?" Steve turns to look at his doppelgänger, who's looking back at Tony with the kind of desperate hope that Steve knows all too well. "I think our situations are more alike than you realize."

Steve steps toward the portal behind his doppelgänger, clapping the man on his shoulder once. The other Cap turns to look at him briefly. "How—?"

"Let your Iron Man tell you. I need to get home to mine."

Then Steve walks through the portal, clinging to his desperate hope, right into the arms of the man he loves.


End file.
